The key to super sensitive wearables is… Spiders?

If you’re not creeped out by spiders then there is something very wrong with you. That being said even the world’s biggest arachnophobe will agree that spiders do have their place. One of those places, as it turns out, is giving researchers clues that could bring about a new age of wearable tech.

Using the principles of a spider’s lyriform organs, which shake in response to the presence of a nearby mate, South Korean researchers have developed a device that mimics a spider’s lyriform stilts using a small electrical current passing through layers of platinum and soft polymers. Even the smallest changes in the size of the stilts alters the level of electrical resistance, meaning it’s possible to detect even the tiniest of vibrations.

This opens up a whole new wave of wearable devices that we could create. It could be super sensitive tuners for musical instruments, flexible heart rate monitors that have zero bulk, or even a device that can let speech impaired people speak by detecting movements in their throat. The possibilities actually are endless.

The only sad thing is that this invention won’t be reaching consumer gadgets anytime soon. But give it a couple of years and you might be seeing a brand new fitness tracker that detects even the smallest details in your heartbeat. Thanks spiders, you terrifying eight-legged menace.